muir valley is great. if you go on a weekend practice wall will be busy, but bruise brothers has some good 10s and a pretty good 9-. tectonic wall isn't bad. gettin lucky in kentucky and plate tectonics are great routes. (i guess i can only speak for gettin lucky, but ive heard good things about plate tectonics). washboard in muir valley has a 5.10d called barenjager that is fun. theres a 9 called send me on my way that is a longer sport route. i was recommended to do rat stew a 10a. both of those are at bruise brothers.

roadside isn't bad. A.W.O.L. is a fun route. fortress is good but its all trad. sunshine and moonbeam at military i've heard are great routes. they are two that i'd like to get on.

i would recommend camping at miguel's (gear, awesome food, and climbers-only camping in one place. its cheap too), but if you can climb at torrent and stay at those cabins thats an added bonus, but ive never climbed at torrent so i can't tell you what the climbing is like.

you can also stay at the hostel, true north, in pine ridge (about 15 minutes from miguels.). true north is a little more expensive but its nice. (google it: true north outfitters) if you're already aware of this stuff then sorry i'm repeating lol!

i recommend swinging by miguels, grabbing some pizza and an ale8, and picking up a guidebook if you don't already have one, and asking miguel, some of the people who work for him or really anyone just hanging out there. the guidebook will sometimes tell you what routes are good for beginners and for each area it will tell you some classic routes in those areas.

i agree that part of it does. where ch4 is (i don't recommend that route. i didn't have fun on it. mostly because every move felt iffy and i thought one false move and i was gonna pitch.) the other part of it, where rat stew and send me on my way are was pretty busy when i was there. but then again, MV on the weekends. id have to climb there more to have a more informed, first-hand opinion as ive only done a few routes on bruise brothers.

i hear good things about defy the laws of tradition, a 10a. anyone done that one?

If you have a group of people who are climbing at a variety of grades then you should definitely check out Muir Valley. The place is gumby central, and with the gratuitous use of bolts there is no real fear of ever taking a whipper here.

However the Bruise Brother wall is a sweltering area especially in the summer, so prepare for some hot climbing if you go there. There are several easier routes here and most of them are really fun (contrary to one of the comments above).

Day one (am): We went to Military Wall. IMO not a great place for beginners, but the wall further in with the 12's looked awesome. We did some easier stuff (not so great quality routes) and I did Fuzzy Undercling 5.11b - Awesome route!!!

Day one (pm): We went up to Left Flank, some real nice easier climbs here and also did To Defy The Laws Of Tradition -5.10a. Recommend the place for easier climbs.

Day two (late start): We went to Roadside (this place is awesome - some of the locals will poo poo it a little because they have been there so much, but we found it to be great!!) We did some easy routes and then did Pulling Pockets and three other routes on the same wall (not sure of the names) Day two (pm): Swam in pool

We stayed at the Lil' Abner Motel (nice place) with a great pool. If you're visiting first time, be sure to pull into the curio/gift shop along the way. For food, we ate at miguel's (great pizza + shop) and Subway for everything else.

The locals living there were friendly and really nice people. Conversation we overheard:Tourist: Have you lived here all your life? Shop owner: Not yet

We also saw 5 Copperhead snakes (some of them alarmingly late!) A lot of people mentioned that Muir Valley is great! Thanks to the locals who were kind enough to show us around